ABSTRACT
Biodiversity encompasses the variety of life, at the genetic, species, or ecosystem level. Insect biodiversity plays an important role in all terrestrial ecosystems, including agroecosystems. Although insects may interfere with the capacity of human societies to produce food by consuming crops and spreading plant diseases, they also play numerous important roles in supporting food production for sustainable diets. In this chapter, we review the important contributions of insects to biodiversity in agroecosystems. Then, using a series of short case studies, we describe how insect biodiversity supports sustainable diets by influencing the social, economic, and environmental components of sustainability. We explore the human-pollinator nexus through our understanding, interaction, and management of bees. Also, we discuss how insect biodiversity supports the economic sustainability of food production through biological control of pests. Finally, we illustrate how dung beetles underpin the environmental sustainability of diets through soil carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and suppressing pathogens. We conclude by discussing primary threats to insect biodiversity in agroecosystems and farming practices that can help conserve insect biodiversity within agroecosystems now and into the future.
